Bedrooms and Closets

Spring is here, at least according to the calendar. Eventually we will all need to dig out our Spring and Summer clothes and gladly put our Winter clothes to rest. Unfortunately I do not have a walk-in closet, so I have taken over both closets in the master bedroom and part of the closet in our guest bedroom, where I keep off-season clothing. The first thing I do is swap out my Summer/Winter clothes from one closet to the other. While I’m swapping out my clothes, I’m simultaneously pulling out those clothes I have not worn in over a year. I throw those in a donate pile. If you have a walk-in or large enough closet to hold your entire wardrobe, I would keep your current season accessible and the off-season items toward the back or in an area less accessible. Here are some donation/consignment places for clothing in the area: www.conshyconsignment.com www.greenestreet.com www.impactthriftstores.org...

Snow days are perfect for organizing! We’ve had a few of those this winter, so no excuses for not getting organized. Here are some ideas… Go through your closet and purge any items you haven’t wore in the past year. Don’t forget those accessories – shoes, purses, jewelry, etc. Here’s a twofer, while organizing your office and files, get your tax documents ready at the same time Organize your linen closets and bathroom drawers Does your kitchen need a fresh start? Organize and clean out your cabinets and pantries. Throw away outdated items. Give your basement a makeover. Purge all those kids toys they no longer play with. Some of you may be thinking, yeah right, I have to take care of my kids on snow days. My answer is… put them to work. Have them help you organize their bookshelves, bathroom drawers, or in the basement. STAY WARM! ...

Now that your closet is organized, what do you do with all those unwanted clothes and shoes? DONATE Dress for Success is a great place to donate your dressy and business casual clothes. Click on the link for donation guidelines. Soles 4 Souls is a wonderful organization that accepts all shoes, new or worn. Click the link for info on how to donate. American Red Cross and Salvation Army are also great spots to donate and are close to almost everyone. SELL Tired of having garage sales or posting on Craigslist….check out these online selling resources Dresm is a site for Women, Men and Kids. Most sites cater to women, so this is a great site! Twice is the easiest way to purge and get paid. They offer free shipping and cash upfront, check them out. RECYCLE SMART is a company that is doing good for the world. Here is a statement from their website: “Glass, cans and paper can all be recycled. What about t-shirts? Yes, in fact all forms of textiles can be recycled. The EPA estimates that the average person throws away 70 lbs of clothing per year. That adds up to 3.8 billion pounds of unnecessary waste added to our landfills.” ...

I often get this question when clients ask me to organize their master closet. So here are my basic, easy to follow rules when organizing a closet. They may sound very detailed, but hey, that is why you hired me, right? From left to right, I begin grouping clothes by type and color I start with sleeveless tops, then on to short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves and finally long sleeves Next in line are jackets, which consist of suit jackets, light outerwear and zip-ups Jeans and pants are next. I separate casual ‘weekend’ wear from ‘dressy/business casual’ wear Skirts and dresses are last. I start with skirts – short to long – and finally, dresses. Dresses are further sorted by sleeve length I’m also a huge believer in shoe racks for all your shoes. Put those beauties on display, so you can easily find them Once your closet is organized, it’s easy to...

I have organized a few playrooms and I love these Kidkraft storage bins. They hold a generous amount of toys and you can see what’s in them. I have seen them as single, double and quadruple bins. They are also somewhat adult decor friendly! Here is another great storage idea. This unit holds books, toys and has bins for smaller toys. The larger bins are great for regular size paper, legal size and coloring books. I was able to separate and organize crafts for a client, using these bins! For more storage ideas and organization tips for kids’ playrooms, contact me! Kids Shelving Unit Children’s Storage Bench HAPPY...

Lowes is having a “KICK THE CLUTTER” sale this weekend. Spend some time getting organized for 2012. Do you have some garage clean-up, basement organizing, de-cluttering the kitchen or maybe some closet cleansing? Now is the time. Make a plan and devote a couple hours to organizing before your 2012 celebration. Check out the deals at Lowes. HAPPY NEW...